Stage 5 - June 15: Nyons - Digne-les-Bains, 195km

Astana everywhere: Colom and Vino make another 1-2

Kashechkin retains lead

Prior to the crucial Alpine stage of the Dauphiné, the classification remains
tight but the Astana team seems extraordinarily superior: while Andrey Kashechkin
comfortably leads the race, Alexandre Vinokourov and Toni Colom have produced
a big show and finished hand in hand in Digne-les-Bains at the end of a 188km
long breakaway.

It's an interesting situation though. One team dominates the race but it's
tactically unusual. All the people who complain about modern cycling offering
the same scenario all the time would have imagined a stage between the Ventoux
and the finish in the middle of the Galibier with a breakaway of average riders
and a bunch led by the team of the race leader.

In the breakaway, there were no less than Tom Boonen and Vinokourov, the two
most renowned participants of the Dauphiné. It was obvious that the Col du Corobin
at the end of the stage would be too hard for the Belgian but he dared to attack!
This is obviously the trademark of a champion who works hard for coming to the
Tour de France in his best shape. Vino does so as well.

The Kazakh isn't only the strongest rider for the coming summer of cycling
but he's also the smartest. As he had lost seven minutes on purpose at the top
of the Mont Ventoux, his presence in the breakaway didn't ruin the chance of
a success. Astana even faked they would take care of the tempo in front of the
peloton. They did it for a little while when the group of 22 was formed with
all the teams represented except from CSC, T-Mobile and Lampre. Later, it was
up to Ag2r and Predictor-Lotto to do most of the work.

The highest ranked rider in the breakaway, Bouygues Telecom's Stef Clement,
and Vino himself were threatening the positions of Christophe Moreau and Cadel
Evans, respectively. "It was nice to be the virtual yellow jersey for 158 kilometres,"
Clement commented. "When I found myself in the breakaway, I took my responsibilities.
We have tried to win the stage. Unfortunately, Vino had a teammate with him
[eventual stage winner Colom - ed.], it was more comfortable for him. Now I'm
in the top 10 on GC but I'm afraid I've spent too much energy before the big
mountain stage there is tomorrow. The real climbers will enter in action. Maybe
I could have followed them, had I preserved myself today, but I expect a difficult
day as it is the seventh day of the Dauphiné. The scenario of the race will
also depend a lot from the weather."

Stage 5 started in Nyons under heavy rain and finished in Digne-les-Bains under
a shy sunshine. The conditions in the mountains are like the race these days:
quite unpredictable. Where nothing was expected from the Kazakh team, Astana
has scored a second 1-2 after Vino and Kash scored the two best times in Anneyron's
time trial.

Vino played it at perfection again. He sent Colom away and rejoined him solo.
"For me, winning a stage together with the boss of the team means a lot, the
Spaniard explained. It's an important success for me as a few of my friends
and relatives have died recently, especially my younger sister who was sick.
I would have liked to share this win with those who aren't here anymore."

The 29 year-old from the Balearic Islands appreciated the gift given by his
captain who has chosen him for his dedication to the team work. "I felt better
when Vino rejoined me in the front," he said. "I even asked him to
slow down a bit. I was at my maximum. It was great to have him in the main breakaway.
It was a better situation than yesterday when we didn't get much help in front
of the bunch."

Astana respected the ideal of the cycling tactic: create a situation where
you maintain the lead without working neither in the front nor at the back.
"It was a quiet day indeed," race leader Kashechkin observed. "I was
always protected behind the wheels while yesterday the whole team had to work
a lot. Tomorrow will be the hardest day of the Dauphiné with a long stage similar
to the mountain stages of the Tour de France. We'll see the true favourites
in action and I think it'll be a good test."

For Kash, there's no doubt: "Christophe Moreau is the strongest. He always
goes very well in the Dauphiné. He is the most dangerous rival for the yellow
jersey. We are not exactly in a hurry for winning. We only have confirmation
that our team is competitive, just like in the races we did before this one.
As for myself, I had a one month break after the Tour de Romandie and I'm happy
to see that the hard work I've done is paying off now." Colom has probably secured
his position in the Astana Tour team in Digne-les-Bains. He never rode the Tour
de France before. The combination of Astana's best riders from the Giro and
the Dauphiné plus Andreas Klöden, that will form an impressive line-up in London!
"Everyone says we have the strongest team; it's true that it's a good team,
but it's not the only one - Discovery Channel also has a good team. Caisse d'Epargne
as well. Don't look only at Astana," the 'Kash machine' requested. It's difficult
for the turquoise team to be discreet before the Tour de France…

At the feed zone at kilometre 106, the escapees had an advantage of 6'30" over
the peloton led by Ag2r and Predictor-Lotto. Boonen went solo eight kilometres
before climb up the Col du Corobin, the main difficulty of the day whose summit
was located with 16 kilometres to go. The action of the former world champion
split the breakaway group.

Mugerli attacked just before the climb but he didn't last long in the front.
Colom was more successful than the Liquigas rider. Vino attacked a little later
and rejoined his teammate with 20 kilometres to go, in a move that resembled
their tactics last year at the Vuelta. At the top of the Corobin, the Astana
duo was 35 seconds ahead of Van Hecke, who was by himself. Duque and Clement
reached the Belgian in the downhill but they never managed to catch Colom and
Vino.

With the agreement of his boss, Colom won the stage and Kashechkin kept the
yellow jersey as the peloton crossed the line 3'27" after the stage winner.